The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.

March 23, 2016

Richard Spratley awarded Coach of the Year

Congratulations to Richard Spratley of Oxford Brookes University Boat Club who received GB Rowing Team’s award of Coach of the Year on Saturday evening.

The award recognises Richard’s outstanding contribution to the sport and the development of young rowers. Richard was presented with the award at Taurus BC’s (Oxford Brookes University Alumni BC) annual dinner on Saturday by Jürgen Grobler, Men’s Chief Coach, GB Rowing Team and Annamarie Phelps, Chairman of British Rowing. The night also marked the 25th anniversary of Richard coaching at Brookes.

The presenting of the award had timely significance as it also followed the great success from earlier in the day where at the Head of the River Race, Oxford Brookes took the headship for the first time in their club history. This performance was followed by impressive results in the second and third eights, where they achieved fourth and 12th positions respectively.

…We thought we might be able to get the win…

Richard commented on the performance: “This is a massive result for the club and it’s been a long time coming, we knew after racing Oxford that we were going well and thought we might be able to get the win but it’s a testament to the hard work of the whole squad that we achieved it.”

Annamarie Phelps, Chairman of British Rowing said: “Richard has worked tirelessly with Oxford Brookes since 1991 and has helped make it into one of the leading rowing universities in this country. I am delighted that we are able to present Richard with this well-deserved award but this award is not only about medal success. As well as the outstanding contribution Richard has made to the GB Rowing Team, he has instilled a culture of nurture, encouragement and loyalty amongst the students at the club. His protégés now extend throughout the country’s rowing clubs and many have become recognised high performance coaches in their own right: a true Brookes dynasty.”

Pictured above, from left to right: Annamarie Phelps, Chairman of British Rowing and Jürgen Grobler, Men’s Chief Coach, GB Rowing Team at the Taurus BC Annual Dinner; Jürgen Grobler and Richard Spratley; Jürgen Grobler presenting Richard Spratley with his award.